While exercising, you can use target heart rate to know how hard you should exercise. Depending on your current fitness level, you can start at the low end of your range and increase gradually.

Finding target heart rate is just a guide to know with how much speed you have to exercise. You feel different as you are different, so pay attention to how you feel, how hard you are breathing and how fast your heart is beating.

You can also find target heart rate monitor using heart rate monitor. Heart rate monitor gives out a continual readout, so you can check your highs and lows after the workout.

Body fat calculator

How much body fat you are carrying? Find out whether you are in healthy range or not using body fat calculator.

Body fat is stored in three places, around internal organs, under the skin and fat inside muscle tissue. Body fat can be calculated by measuring the skin folds at abdomen, triceps, thigh and suprailiac.

Men can take measurements from chest, abdomen and thigh. Women can take measurement from triceps, suprailiac and abdomen. To measure the body fat, a set of digital calipers can be used. If you do not have calipers, you can take skinfolds at 3 or 4 sites from the body.

Chest: A diagonal fold should be taken midway between the nipple and crease of the underarm. [Chest Workouts]

Abdomen: A vertical fold should be taken one inch to the side of the umbilicus. [Killer Ab Workouts]

Suprailiac: A diagonal fold should be taken between hip joint and the bottom of the rib cage.

Triceps: A vertical fold should be taken halfway between elbow joint and shoulder joint. [Tricep Exercises]

Thigh: A vertical fold should be taken halfway between knee joint and hip joint. [Thigh Exercises]

After measuring the skin folds, enter your age and weight. You will get the body fat percentage. Body fat calculator is used to estimate how healthy and fit you are.

Basal Metabolic Rate

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the minimum requirement of calories needed to maintain life in a resting individual. The amount of energy expended in calories by the body to remain in bed asleep all the day is called basal metabolic rate.

Basal metabolic rate is responsible to burn up to 70 percent of the total calories expended, but this can vary due to different factors. Calories are burned by your body processes like blood pumping around the body, respiration, and to maintain body temperature.

Basal metabolic rate is the largest factor in determining the overall metabolic rate and the number of calories needed to maintain, lose or gain weight. It is determined by number of factors like gender, age, weight and height.

As men will have greater muscle mass and low body fat percentage, they have high basal metabolic rate. BMR reduces with age and after 20 years; the drop will be two percent. If you are overweight, your BMR will be higher.

If your body fat percentage is lower, BMR will be higher. Starvation or serious calories restriction diet reduces BMR up to thirty percent.